Walnut-Fig Sourdough Bread: Variation on a favorite from SFBI Artisan II
David Snyder
7 December, 2015
This blog entry could have been titled “So many breads, so little time.” Or “time flies when you're having fun.”
100% Organic White Spelt Flour. A tiny bit disappointed that they did not rise more. I thought that the spelt flour gives it a subtle hint of caramel flavour. My partner tasted them and commented, "Mmm, these panini have attitude". 
This is among my best tasting breads, alla Tartine.
Levain was mixed Friday night using 1 tablespoon of starter from the fridge (last fed one week prior).
Saturday morning, about 15 hours later, I mixed the levain with 700 grams of water, 700 grams AP flour, 205 grams whole wheat and 95 grams whole rye.
Forty minutes or so later, I added 20 grams of salt and some extra water, enough to incorporate the salt into the dough, and enough to keep my hands from sticking. (Tartine suggests 50 gram but I find that to create a dough that is a bit too wet/pasty).
I've made a variety of breads in the last few weeks. First of are a couple types of whole wheat bread.
This one is a 100% whole wheat bread at about 90% hydration. The bread had a nice whole wheat flavor with minimal sourness. The crumb felt dense but was not dry. I would have liked more flavor contribution from the starter.
Is it still necessary to heat milk to avoid killing yeast?
And just when I thought I have to settle with toying between bread and all purpose flour ratio, I, happened to find this fantastic German Bread Flour Type 550 the other day at one of the bakery ingredients supply shop.
It's been over a month since I had a chance to post. Between traveling to China for work and then going to NC for Thanksgiving time has been short.
Anyway, this bread was one I made after returning from China. It ended up very tasty with a nice nutty flavor from the freshly milled Durum flour combined with the freshly milled whole rye flour.
I incorporated some rye and durum into the two build starter and added some bread flour for some added strength.
Lucy has been wanting to make this one since we ran across it while searching for pumpernickel bread recipes at about the same time another Fresh Loafian was asking about Latvian Bread recipes.
We thought it an odd one since the recipe called for scalding apple cider and then adding it rye four with a bit of starter and leaving it covered to make the for 24 hours to make the levain.
Just for a change of pace I thought that I'd try a riff on the Raisin-Pecan WW Levain that I've been baking, which are based on Ken's Artisan Bakery's gems. A voyage not too far offshore to visit an Apple-Walnut WW Levain version.
I made some boiled dumplings (jiaozi) the other day to expand my repertoire and just to try something new. They are rustic, comforting and a really nice alternative to buns, noodles and rice. Read here for more information and how to make them from scratch. Baozi and siumai are my favorite Chinese snacks and these are a new addition to those. I like their simplicity compared to steamed dumplings and pot sticker, drop the into boiling water and when they float they're done.
